The Best Days Of The Rest Of Our Lives
by evgrrl09
Summary: Senior Derek Morgan won't be able to play football if his English grade doesn't improve, so he's assigned a tutor who he learns more from than just how to raise his grade. AU Morgan/Garcia. Reviews are appreciated! ***Rated T for now, but could change.***
1. A D In English

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's my newest Morgan/Garcia story! It's AU and takes place with them all in high school. Many characters will be making appearances, **_**all**_** of them in a high school setting. I hope you enjoy...it's going to be light and fluffy. Hopefully, anyway. PLEASE ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

Derek sat in the hard, unforgiving plastic chair set up in front of his high school advisor, Erin Strauss' desk. Currently the woman was typing away on her computer, checking his grades. He rubbed his head and groaned internally as he looked at the pursed lips of the counselor. This could not be good.

"Mr. Morgan, I hope you realize that you won't be able to play football if your English grade remains at a D," Mrs. Strauss said. She looked up at him and cocked a brow.

He gulped. He couldn't imagine getting through high school without football. In fact, he was depending upon it to get into college. It was the way he was planning on getting the money to pay for school. "So, what exactly do I need to do to, I don't know, _not _fail?" he asked, sitting up straighter.

"You'll have to talk to your English teacher, Mr. Rossi, for ways to improve your grade," she said. "I would suggest you study harder as well. With your other grades and your football standing, you'll get into a decent school. But your English grade has to improve. Football scholarships will do you no good if you're not playing football."

Nodding, he looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "Okay. Thanks for meeting with me, Mrs. S. I'll talk to Mr. Rossi."

She waved her hand. "Alright," she said. "I'll see you later."

He left Mrs. Strauss' office and rubbed his face as he left the counseling office. This day could not get any worse for him. In addition to his plummeting English grade, his girlfriend was pissed at him because he couldn't meet with her after school to go out. As he strode through the hallways of his high school, he couldn't help but think of his mother and sisters. If he was going to go to college, he was going to have to bring this English grade up. There was no way his mother could pay for school, not after his father had been killed. He sighed. He had to find a way to raise his grade. Fast.

"Derek!"

He turned around to see his girlfriend, Jordan Todd hurrying towards him, teetering in a pair of stilettos. A smile was covering her face.

_Oh, shit,_ he thought, smiling tightly back. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be spending time with Jordan right now, not when things were going so poorly with his grades. He had to have time to think about what to do about it. And Jordan's incessant chatter would make thinking impossible. First thing he would do last period though was check in with Mr. Rossi. Maybe he had some ideas.

"Hi, Babe," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pecking her on the lips. "What's up?"

"Just cutting class to come and find you," she purred, putting her arm around his waist. "We've got lunch next period. Got any plans?"

"Oh, just eating with you," he said. But his mind was completely unfocussed. His mind was stuck on the issue of his grades. Before he could say anything more, the bell signaling the end of the period rang. Students began to pour out of their classrooms and head down the hallways. Along the way, Jordan rammed into a girl and sent all the girl's possessions flying across the floor.

Jordan's face turned malicious and she hissed, "Watch it, bitch!" She didn't even say she was sorry. As far as Jordan was concerned, things had to move out of the way for her, not the other way around.

Derek looked sharply at his girlfriend; he didn't understand her desire to be rude to everyone who she thought was below them. "Jordan, stop!" He went to look and see if the girl was okay after his girlfriend had knocked her things flying. But all he saw was a flash of honey colored hair before Jordan yanked him away from her.

It was pointless to try and help her because Jordan was already pulling him away towards the cafeteria. He hoped the girl would know that he was sorry. At that moment though, he wasn't able to tell her anything. All he could do was hope the universe was giving her a better day than him.

XXXXX

"Watch it, bitch!"

Penelope's things went flying all over the hallway as Jordan Todd, one of the varsity cheerleaders, rammed into her. She rolled her eyes and bent down, ignoring Jordan and her football captain boyfriend, Derek Morgan as they walked by. There was no point in saying anything to either of them about them having to watch where _they_ were going.

If there was anything she had learned from high school, it was to just keep going until you graduated. And worrying about a junior cheerleader and her football captain boyfriend was pointless.

"Jordan, don't!"

This perked Penelope's interest. So Derek Morgan had a soul? Or at least a conscience?

Before she could look up at him to thank him though, Jordan had dragged him down the hall and all she saw was his back as he went away. She couldn't lie and say she wasn't attracted to Derek Morgan...physically anyway. The boy was extremely attractive. She had no idea what kind of a person he was. He could be a jerk, he could be a nice guy. Other than his status as a football captain and his terrible taste in women, there wasn't much she knew about him.

"Whoa, Garcia," a voice said behind her.

Penelope looked up and saw one of her best friends, Emily Prentiss coming up behind her. She rolled her eyes and gathered her things more securely in her arms. "Hi to you, too," she said.

Emily cocked a brow and snickered, pushing her black bangs out of the way. "What happened to you and your things that's got you all in a tizzy?" she asked.

"Jordan Todd, that's what happened," Penelope answered in irritation.

"Ah, yes," Emily said, slinging an arm around Penelope's shoulder. "The joys of Jordan Todd. You know, I know there are some nice people in that crowd. Like, that girl Jennifer! She's really nice. But people like Jordan and Tamara? They can burn in Hell."

Smiling, Penelope shook her head. "Em, let's just forget about them. I'm in no mood. Spencer is coming over tonight with Maeve, and we're all going to Alex's to get pizza. You in?"

"Sounds like a plan," she said, giving the thumbs up. "Band practice gets done at six, so I should be able to come on over." Emily was in a grunge band in which she played drums. She was the epitome of an alternative rock girl.

"Talking about tonight?" Spencer Reid said, coming up behind them. The genius, top of the junior class was Penelope's other best friend.

"Yep," they said simultaneously.

Spencer nodded and said, "Good. Come hungry. Alex is going all out. Anderson is coming, too...and he'll be bringing the booze." A mischievous smile covered his face and he added, "Oh, Penelope? Did you hear what Kevin has been up to lately?"

A groan escaped Penelope's lips and she slapped her forehead. "Oh, dear God," she muttered. "What did he do? He hasn't said anything to me yet, so I'm assuming this is _new_ news."

"Oh, yes," he said with a grin. "This is very new. He's been telling all his buddies that he's taking you to Homecoming."

Emily started sputtering with laughter while Penelope's face turned bright red. She opened her locker and shoved her books into her backpack. Slamming it shut, she glared at no one in particular. Her moronic ex-boyfriend was going around telling people they were going to homecoming? "God, I'm going to _kill_ him! What the hell is he doing that for? I don't even think I'm going to Homecoming." She was so mad that she could scream. She thought she had been done with the lack luster life that went along with Kevin Lynch. But apparently he wasn't willing to let her go.

Their dating life had been dull, their sex life boring. They were similar in their interests, but he never wanted to mix things up. She liked him, but she didn't love him. Penelope wanted more than just contentment with a boyfriend. She wanted something that was bursting with passion and always kept her guessing as to what would happen next. Love was what she wanted. Love that made her excited to wake up in the morning and warmed her insides so that she felt like there was a fire simmering in her belly.

And Kevin Lynch most certainly did not offer her that.

She opened her mouth to start ragging on her ex, but before she could, her English teacher, Mr. Rossi approached her.

"Hey, you three!" he said, stopping in front of the group of three. "Penelope, I needed to talk to you about something."

"Er, sure, Rossi," she said. "What's up?"

"I've got a student who's in need of some tutoring, and I was wondering if you would be interested in doing it," he said. "It would qualify as part of your semester's volunteer work."

Penelope nodded. She was in need of volunteer hours. "Okay," she said. "When do you need me to start?"

"This afternoon, right after classes end," he said. "You can come meet him in my room and then move on down to the library from there."

"I can totally do that," she said, nodding. "I'll come right down after school."

Rossi smiled. "Excellent. I knew I could count on you, Garcia." He waved to the three of them and said, "Have a good rest of the day, you three."

"I wonder who you're going to tutor," Spencer mused as they headed towards the cafeteria.

Penelope snorted. "Who cares?" she yawned. "I'm starving."

"Yes, I wonder what this fabulous establishment has in store for us today in the way of culinary palettes," Emily said sarcastically. "Let's go get some grub!" She said the last sentence in a raspy, old man voice, causing Spencer and Penelope to roll their eyes.

Spencer shook his head. "Emily Prentiss, if you laid on any more sarcasm in that comment, you would be drier than Oscar Wilde."

XXXXX

The school day had ended and Derek was sitting in Mr. Rossi's classroom, texting on his cellphone, waiting for his tutor to show up. He had about an hour to sit through with whoever this girl was. This wasn't exactly his idea of a fun afternoon, but it was better than dealing with Jordan, who had been annoying him since lunch.

"Okay, Derek," Rossi said as he opened the door to his classroom and entered. "This is who will be tutoring you."

Derek looked up at his teacher. He had just entered the room, and trailing behind him was a curvy blonde girl. She wore a pair of thick rimmed, black glasses and she was wearing a short patterned skirt and low cut blue shirt. Slung over her shoulder was a backpack with tiny cartoon pandas all over. This girl looked vaguely familiar to him for some reason.

What he couldn't figure out though was why he couldn't stop looking at her. There was something strange about her that kept calling his gaze back to her. She - whatever her name was - was...beautiful.

He rose to his feet and shoved his phone into his pocket. "Er, hi," he said, waving awkwardly. He smiled at the girl. In turn, she returned the gaze with a soft smile.

Rossi nodded and gestured to the girl behind him. "Derek, meet Penelope Garcia...she's going to be your tutor. If you want to bring your grade up, this is the girl to ask. She'll get you to where you want to be."

"Hi," she said, extending her hand. "I'm Penelope."

Derek cleared his throat and nodded stiffly, shaking her hand. Her skin was baby soft, and he could vaguely smell the scent of her cinnamon perfume. For some reason, he began to sweat and feel jittery. What the hell was going on with him?

"Nice to meet you, Penelope," he said nervously. "I'm Derek."


	2. First Session

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you to all who reviewed! Here's the 2nd chapter...I sincerely hope you enjoy :) PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU HAVE A MOMENT!**

After Derek and Penelope left Mr. Rossi's room, they headed to the library to set up for their tutoring session. The whole way there, Penelope mused over how she was tutoring the one and only Derek Morgan, the boy every girl would kill to be spending their afternoons with. However, she didn't know how keen she was to be spending time with him. She was in no mood to deal with his arrogance. But if she was getting volunteer hours was in it for her, she supposed she could get through one hour three days a week.

Plus, she didn't think he would think much of her. His initial thoughts were probably that she was just another nerd for him to tell his buddies all about.

Of course, she didn't really give a flying fuck what he thought. Him or any of his crowd. She was happy with the way she was.

As they set up their things in at a secluded table in the back of the library, Penelope nodded to him. "Okay," she said. "What are you working on right now? You're in English Twelve, right?"

He nodded and smiled sheepishly. Pulling out a copy of _Great Expectations_, he set it and a notebook on the table in front of them. "Yeah," he said. He looked at her and coughed uncomfortably. "Um, so...you're really good at English, huh?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I'm taking classes at the college. I completed all of the ones here." Noticing the surprised look on his face, she smiled quirkily at him. "What? Why do you look so...surprised?"

He shook his head. "It's just...I've never met a girl who went through all the English classes here," he said. "It's impressive."

A blush crept up her face. "Oh, well...thank you," she said with a smile. Now she was utterly confused. He wasn't acting like a jerk about her obvious interest in academics. He was just..._impressed_? And that struck her as odd. No ridicule?

What was up with this guy?

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she said, "Well, how far are you in the book? School only started two weeks ago, but sometimes Rossi likes to go fast."

He nodded. "Thankfully he's only made us read the first two chapters," he said. "Although the reading quizzes are kind of hard. He likes to pull direct quotes from the book and quiz us on the 'true meaning' behind them." He used air quotes around "true meaning".

"Well, I guess the first question I have is how much of the book are you comprehending?" she asked. "Dickens is kind of tough, especially if you've got a weak English background."

"I definitely have one of those," he said with a slight chuckle. "That's why I'm here...with you."

She smiled. "True," she said. "Now...how much do you understand?"

He bit his lip and ran his hand over his curl covered head. "Er..."

She laughed. "Okay," she said. "It's alright. Nothing I can't work with." Wordlessly, she took his book from him and started thumbing through the beginning of the book. She clucked her tongue and looked at him. "Well here's your first problem." She pointed to the last page of chapter two, then flipped through the pages back to the very first page of chapter one. "You don't have any notes."

"How can I take notes if I don't understand it?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Write your questions," she stated. "You can ask me whatever you want. But be sure to write them down so you don't forget it."

He smirked. "We're just diving right in, aren't we?"

She nodded simply. "Yep," she said. "So keep up." She stared at him bluntly, and for a moment he looked scared of her. But then she burst into laughter. "I'm kidding! Don't worry about it."

A grin spread over his face and he nodded. "Okay then. Let's get to work," he said.

XXXXX

Penelope Garcia puzzled Derek to no end.

For one, she didn't react to him the way every other girl in the universe did. He'd tried flashing her his charming grins, moving closer to her, everything. Nothing. She barely acknowledged his attempts at making her warm and gooey. Or at the very least she did know about them and was just ignoring him. He honestly couldn't tell which.

But what was different about this girl, other than her lack of reaction to his usual moves on ladies, was what _he_ was thinking about her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. How could he not have noticed her before? Everything about her was intriguing to him. He couldn't get enough of looking at her facial features. She had beautifully full lips and sweet brown eyes that made him want to stare at her all day. And then there was the matter of how she smelled. It was probably creepy that he would notice something like that, but the scent of vanilla came off of her and filled his nose, making him feel gooshy on the inside. Not only did she smell wonderful, but he couldn't help but wonder what she tasted like.

He bet she tasted like strawberries and -

"So, what did we learn about Pip in these first chapters?" she quizzed, breaking his train of thoughts about her.

Shaking his head and snapping back to reality, he said, "Huh?"

She fixed him with a frown. "Were you paying any attention?" she asked, scrutinizing him with a wrinkle of her nose.

Another thing he found adorable...

He smiled, embarrassed. "Uh, no," he admitted. "But I promise I'll listen when you tell me again right now!" He shot her another grin, hoping it would work on her this time.

Apparently not.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine," she huffed. "I'll go over it again." She pointed to his notebook. "Okiedokie, write this stuff down. So, we start with Pip in the cemetery and he's sitting in front of his parents' graves. But then that convict comes along and tells him he needs him to bring him some food and a file to get rid of the chains around his ankles."

He raised a finger and asked, "Why did he call food 'wittles'? And why is pronounced with a 'v' instead of a 'w'?"

"That's just a term they used in nineteenth century England," she explained. Without single stutter or pause, she continued on with her explanation. "But his compassion towards him tells us that he's got that innocence that goes along with childhood." She raised a brow at him. "Get it?"

He nodded this time. "Yeah, actually I do," he said. Glancing away from her momentarily, he checked the clock and groaned internally. He had football practice in twenty minutes. "Hey, listen, I have to get to practice." He gulped and smiled nervously. "But, uh, thanks for helping me. I guess I'll be seeing you on Wednesday?"

She nodded. "Don't forget to do your homework," she said, pointing at him and smiling. "And if you need help, just let me know if you need help beforehand."

Both of them rose to their feet and shouldered their backpacks. They started for the library door and walked down the quiet hallway. She giggled. "So...what's it like dating Jordan Todd? An experience?"

He snorted. God, why was she asking about his bitch of a girlfriend? He didn't want to talk about her at all. He didn't even know why he was still with her. She was just a pain in the ass. But he thought he'd answer her question anyway. "Er, yeah," he muttered. "An experience is one way of describing it."

"I can only imagine," she said. "You probably don't remember, but she knocked into me in the hall earlier. Knocked my stuff all over the hall."

He halted and looked at her with wide eyes. "That was _you_?" he asked in shock. Oh, shit. This wasn't good. He'd already been a bastard in front of her. This couldn't get any worse. How the hell was he supposed to impress her now? First she thought he was an idiot, now she thought he was a jackass.

Biting her lip, she nodded. "Uh, yeah," she said. "That was me."

"Hey, listen...I'm sorry about that," he said, rubbing his face. "She can be a real bitch sometimes."

She smirked. "Then why do you put up with her? That sounds...well, it sounds _awful_." Then her eyes grew wide and she shook her head, face-palming herself. "Oh, Jesus! I'm sorry! I have an awful motor mouth! That was completely not a question I should have been asking. It's not any of my business." She smiled sheepishly and blushed. "Sorry."

Derek grinned. "It's all good," he said, winking at her.

For the umpteenth time that afternoon, he stared at her and his mouth went dry. Penelope Garcia was an interesting girl, and that made her...well, not desirable. Okay, well, it _did_ her desirable - she was an extremely beautiful girl with to-die-for curves and a gorgeous mouth that he wouldn't mind drowning in for hours - but she was definitely a different specimen of female than the usual type in their high school.

He had to get to know her more.

She looked at her watch and said, "Well, I have to go. I'll see you Wednesday."

And before he could say goodbye, she was gone down the hallway, leaving him wanting more to come from her sexy mouth.


	3. Speculations

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I'm very sorry about the delay on this chapter. I've been having a really bad week, so I haven't had much time to write. Here's Chapter 3...thank you so much for the reviews so far! Please enjoy and REVIEW!**

"You guys will never believe who I'm tutoring," Penelope said, pulling out a beer from the cooler Anderson had brought to Alex Blake's house for the group's hangout night. Their group consisted of Penelope, Reid, Emily, Alex, and Anderson, and all of them were enjoying a light evening of being their normal, geeky selves. It was perfect for unwinding. "Trust me...it's hilarious."

Emily smirked. "Oh?" she mused, tipping her head back and sipping her beer. "And who would that be?"

"Derek Morgan." She looked at her friends' faces of shock and took a bite of pizza. Nodding, she added, "That's right. I'm tutoring the football captain in English." She snickered and took another sip of her drink.

Alex gaped at her. "For real? You're tutoring _Derek Morgan_?"

"What's that like?" Reid asked in amusement. "Was he a jerk to you? I swear if he was a jerk I'll kick him in the shins...'cause that's about all I could do. I don't think I could kick him in the ass. That's a little out of my skill level." He pouted momentarily.

Penelope laughed and slung an arm around Reid's shoulders. "Oh, you're so valiant, Boy Wonder!" she said with a smile. Then her face softened as she thought back to her tutoring session with Derek Morgan. Instead of being a complete asshole though, he'd actually been...sweet. Really sweet. And apparently he was as disgusted with his girlfriend as she was. At least it had seemed like he wasn't fond of her. She sighed. So much confusion.

"Er, Earth to Garcia!"

She looked at Emily. Her punk-rock friend was staring at her expectantly with an interested look on her face. "Huh?" she said. "What'd you say?"

Cocking her eyebrow, Emily gasped. "Oh, dear God!" she cried, sitting forward on her couch. "Please tell us you don't _like _him! I swear to God I will _kill_ you if you -"

Penelope snorted. "Puh-lease," she said. "No, he's not my type at all. Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that he's fabulous looking and I wouldn't mind seeing him without his shirt, but let's be honest...he's not into girls like me. And more to the point, I'm not into guys like him."

"Yeah, you're into guys like Kevin," Reid snorted, earning himself a slap in the arm from Penelope.

Anderson nodded. "It's a good thing you don't like Derek," he said. "He's the love 'em and leave 'em type."

As her friends chatted about what they thought of Derek Morgan, Penelope thought back to their tutoring session from earlier in the afternoon. The truth was he was different than she had expected. He seemed like he was merely dealing with his girlfriend, rather than enjoying her company. And rather than being a jerk to her and mocking her for being smart, he'd been impressed with her and kind to her.

"The most important thing now is to avoid dealing with that bitch, Jordan," Emily said decisively. "_She's_ the one you really don't want to deal with."

"Well, then thank God I'm tutoring Derek and not Jordan," Penelope said dryly.

Anderson took a longer sip of his beer. "I can't decide which of his girlfriends is worse," he said. "Tamara Barnes or Jordan. They're both pretty hot, I guess, but the question is ..._which _of them is worse?"

"Tamara is just nutso," Alex said. "Oh! Do you remember when she went crazy on those chicks at the mall over a pair of shoes?" She bent her head backwards and laughed. "Geesh, I was there...it was hilarious! The cops taking her away was pretty classic, too."

Penelope smirked. "I remember getting your text about it," she snickered. "That made my day." Glancing down at her phone, she groaned at the time. "I've got to go home. My parents will be wondering where I've been. They told me I had to be home by midnight and it's 11:40." Thank god she'd only had one beer. She had to drive home still.

Reid pouted. "Aw, we'll miss you, Garcia!" he said, leaning over and putting his arms around him Penelope's waist and holding her there.

"I'll miss you, too, Boy Wonder," she said, planting a quick kiss on the top of his head. "But I gotta run. I've got homework still."

Emily rose with her. "PG, would you mind giving me a ride home?" she asked. "I gotta get home, too." She grinned. "You've only had half a drink and I've had four."

Penelope slung her arm around Emily's shoulder and nodded. "Of course I can give you a ride home," she said. She waved at the other three. "We'll see you guys later."

"You all good over there?" Penelope asked as she buckled herself into the driver's seat. She looked at the slumped over Emily and smirked. "You're looking a little green." She laughed at her friend's thumbs up sign. "Okay, just let me know if you need me to stop so you can puke _outside_ my baby."

"Oh, _Esther _will be fine," Emily slurred. After a few moments of silence as they drove on, Emily spoke again. "Penelope?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you really think of Derek Morgan? Like really, _really _think. You got all quiet after we started debating about him. I don't get the feeling you're smitten, but you're curious."

Penelope was quiet for a while. Emily was right. She was very curious about her new tutoring charge. Yeah, he needed help with English, but he seemed like a pretty smart kid. She didn't care that he was a jock or what her friends might say, he was smart. He tried to hide it behind his suave attitude, but it was there. Strangely, she felt protective of him, even though it had been only an hour of her actually speaking with him. In no way was she charmed by him. Yeah, he was good looking, but she was more of a substance over style girl, as cliche as it sounded. She'd thought Kevin Lynch was more than just a cute geek in terrible t-shirts. Of course, she'd found out the hard way that he was more interested in Lara Croft than her.

"You're silent," Emily noted. "You like him, don't you? Oh, please tell me you don't."

"No, no," she said, trying to keep her voice neutral. "I'm just tired. That's all."

In her intoxicated state, Emily didn't notice her questionable tone and merely nodded. "Okay then," she murmured sleepily.

Penelope had never been more grateful for her friend to be drunk.

XXXXX

"Man Morgan, you're awfully quiet tonight," Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner said to Derek. The two of them were sitting in Hotch's kitchen. "That and you're not concentrating. What gives?"

Derek looked up from staring at his pencil and looked at his friend. Usually Hotch didn't say much, so he was surprised that he mentioned it. But he didn't think he could tell even his best friend about his immediate attraction to Penelope Garcia. He didn't know why he felt such an insane attraction to a girl not in his circle. She wasn't even remotely similar to the girls he'd dated in the past. Was that the reason he liked her? Or was it she was smarter than any other girl he'd met and he'd discovered that within an hour of knowing her?

"There's clearly something on your mind," Hotch said. "C'mon..." He sat forward in his chair and folded his hands in front of him. "Tell Uncle Hotch all about it."

Derek frowned at him and then sighed, putting his pencil down. Hotch was his best friend, and not like half the people populating the jock population. "Alright," he relented. "But you have to swear to me you won't tell anyone about this." Watching Hotch cock an eyebrow, he rubbed his face and continued. "Okay, I - I have a thing for this girl."

"I take it this girl is someone who is _not _Jordan," Hotch stated with a smirk.

He nodded and guiltily continued. "Yeah, and I know that's not cool, but -"

Hotch shook his head vigorously. "I'm gonna be totally honest with you, but I am glad you like another girl," he said, somewhat relieved. "Jordan isn't...well, she isn't..." He paused. "She doesn't seem to know you. I mean, you've never even taken her home to meet your family. Come to think of it, you've never taken any of your girlfriends to meet your family."

Derek bent his head. He hadn't trusted any of the girls he'd dated and he didn't want to expose their borderline disgusting shallow behavior to his mother and sisters. They were above those girls and shouldn't have to be ashamed of the fact that he, the only man in the house after his father had been murdered, was somewhat of a douche bag. His Mom, Sarah, and Desiree didn't have to know about that.

Same as they didn't have to know about what Buford had done to him...

"So...who is the girl?"

Derek sighed again. "Okay, the girl is Penelope Garcia," he admitted.

Hotch blinked at him for a moment. "Penelope Garcia? The girl in my chemistry class?"

It was Derek's turn to be surprised. "Uh, yeah," he said. "I guess. I had no idea she was in your chemistry. But yeah. That's her."

"What do you like about her?" he pursued. "I mean, what makes her attractive to you?"

Derek was slightly surprised at Hotch's lack of reaction, but he decided to ask about it later. "Well, it's just...she intrigues me. She's smart and beautiful and...well, damn it she didn't respond to a damn charm I threw at her!" This caused Hotch to burst into laughter. Derek frowned at him. "What the hell are you laughing at? My signature moves didn't work on a girl."

"That's what makes you like her," he said. "You like her because she's not responding to you in the normal girl-who-meets-Derek Morgan fashion. That and you think she's beautiful. You don't call women beautiful, you call them hot."

Nodding thoughtfully, Derek said, "Yeah, I guess I do. How did you know you Haley was the woman you loved. 'Cause it's pretty obvious that you two will get married at some point."

For some reason Hotch did something totally out of character and blushed. "Well...I guess -"

"But this thing isn't like that with Penelope," Derek interrupted, looking up at the ceiling. "I think I'm just in awe of her smarts. It'll pass in a few days. Maybe a week at most." He shook his head and picked up his pencil again. "Yeah. It won't last and my tiff with Jordan will go away and I'll be totally back in the game with her. It'll be all good." Then he returned his attention to his book.

Hotch smirked at his friend. Somehow he doubted Derek's affections for Penelope Garcia would go away as quickly as he wanted it to. But instead of pressing the issue, he kept his speculation to himself and continued to work on homework.

**Again, my apologies on getting this out so late! New Doomsday and oneshot on the way as well, hopefully tonight or tomorrow.**


	4. Derek's Handwriting

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here is chapter 4! Thank you for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy this one :)**

Tuesday morning Derek walked into school, extremely eager to possibly see Penelope. There was a slight bounce to his step and he made his way hastily down the hall. He'd even shown up half an hour before school, hoping to scour the building for a chance to see his tutor. The night before he'd come up with a list of questions about the book she was helping him with — some of which he already knew the answer to because she'd helped him on Monday — simply because he wanted to talk with her.

He didn't even find it strange that he'd met her the day before and was already going out of his way to talk with her.

After about ten minutes of searching, he found her sitting in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. He couldn't believe his luck. A cheer went off in his head, he took a deep breath, and made his way towards her.

She was reading, her lower lip stuck between her teeth. She was so enthralled with the story she didn't even notice him approaching her.

"Hi," he said, waving at her.

She jumped slightly and looked up at him, startled. Her eyes went wide and she blinked several times. She looked somewhat confused.

"Oh," she said, watching as he sat down. "Hi. What're you doing at school so early? Aren't you usually rolling late." She looked like she was trying to hide a smile.

He grinned. "I decided to mix it up," he said, unsoldering his backpack. He nodded towards the book on her lap. "What're you reading?"

Immediately her eyes brightened. She held it up for him to see. "_Jane Eyre_," she responded enthusiastically. It was clear she loved the book. "It's one of my favorites!" She looked at him and laughed. "Sorry…I get kind of carried away with my favorite books." A blush crept up her cheeks.

He shook his head. "Oh, don't worry about it." Leaning forward so that his elbows were resting on his knees, he painted at the cover. "What's it about?" Once again, she looked at him oddly. He laughed nervously. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

She tilted her head to the side and stated bluntly, "You really want to know about _Jane Eyre_?"

"Yeah, why not?" he said with a smile. "Can't a guy be curious?"

A smirk covered her lips, but she held her book up. "Point well made," she said. "Well, this book is about a girl who's treated like an outcast because she's poor. But she's smart, and she becomes a governess for a little French girl. The man she works for is extremely rich, and eventually the two become best friends and fall in love. But here's a secret that he's hiding and it means that when he asks her to marry him, they can't get married and it causes her to run away."

He frowned at her. "And this is your favorite book?" She nodded and he shook his head quickly. "But it sounds so depressing! Does it at least have a happy ending?"

Smiling coyly, she tapped his nose once and replied, "I'm not telling you. You have to read it to find out."

It was his turn to grin. Not only was he ecstatic that she'd touched him, but he had a comeback to shoot at her about the happy ending. "You know there's Wikipedia, right?" he said. "I could just read that and find out."

She smirked somewhat evilly. "Oh, mocha Thor, I'll just change it so it says something totally ridiculous."

He laughed loudly. "_Mocha Thor_?"

Nodding firmly, she snickered. "Oh, come on," she said. "You _know _you look like that. Don't try to deny it."

"You think I'm good looking?" he asked smartly.

She ignored him and went on. A look that very clearly said _Everyone does, you idiot_ covered her face. Shaking her head, she said, "So, what do you need? Help with the book?"

Biting his lip to keep himself from giving away his true reason for coming to her, he said, "Er, yeah. I need help. I did what you said…I wrote down questions that I have about it." He dug into his backpack and retrieved his English work and copy of _Great Expectations, _setting them on the table in front of them. He picked up the sheet of paper he'd scribbled questions on and handed it to her. "These are the questions."

Her eyes widened at how many there were. Okay, maybe he'd gone overboard with how many questions he had, but he had really, _really_ wanted to see her. And he got the impression that the only way it would make sense to anyone, his friends or her, was if he had questions about the book. "These are all the questions you have?" she sputtered, looking up and down at the piece of notebook paper.

He nodded matter-of-factly and grinned brilliantly at her. "Yeah," he said. "I took your advice and wrote it all down, every question that I have."

She perused the list and bit her lip. Clucking her tongue, she started to say, "Well give me just a little while to —"

"_Derek!_"

Penelope immediately clamped her mouth shut and looked up with cold eyes. Derek shut his eyes and rubbed his face. He looked at her apologetically and turned to see Jordan strolling towards him, Tamara Barnes in tow. Both of them were dressed in designer duds that looked more expensive than Derek's car. And the looks on their faces were ones of disgust. He gulped. This could not be good.

"Er, hi Baby," he said, looking up at her. "What's up?"

Jordan and Tamara halted in front of her them and gave Penelope the once over. She was dressed in a short, tight skirt that was cotton and patterned, a neon green shirt, a pair of Converse sneakers, and a pair of bright pink glasses. Compared to their much more neutral colored outfits and stiletto heels, she was a pop of color. And they were not accepting it.

"What're you doing talking to _her_?" Jordan demanded, pointing at Penelope. "She's the bitch that ran into me yesterday!"

Derek opened his mouth to say something, but Penelope beat him to it. "Yeah, I ran into _you_," she snorted sarcastically. He grinned. He _really_ liked Penelope now. She wasn't backing down from Jordan and her bitchy behavior. She wasn't remaining passive. It was brilliant. So brilliant he couldn't help but laugh out loud, earning himself glares from both his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend.

Jordan's face became enraged. "Excuse me?" she squeaked. "What did you just say to me?"

"Yeah! What did you just say to her?" Tamara added.

Jordan turned to Derek and placed both hands on her hips and snapped, "What the hell, Derek? Why are you sitting there laughing?"

Penelope rolled her eyes and stood up. She folded the sheet of paper Derek had given her with his questions and tucked it in the pocket of her panda backpack. Ignoring Jordan and Tamara, she looked down at Derek and said, "I'll take a look at these and we can talk about them tomorrow." She waved and added, "See you around, Derek."

Then she was walking away, disappearing into the building. He watched her the entire way.

Jordan smacked him in the arm. "Derek, how could you let her talk to me like that?" she cried. He kept staring after Penelope, making his girlfriend even more infuriated. "What's wrong with you? Why are you ignoring me?"

He looked up at her and shook his head, snapping back to reality. "Sorry, what did you say?" he asked.

She glared viciously at him. "Really? How could you not be listening to me?"

Tamara nodded in agreement. "Yeah, _Derek_? How can you not be listening to her?" She fixed him with a stare that could freeze blood.

Oh, yeah. There was no animosity there.

Derek glanced at his ex and cocked a brow, feeling rather irritated at the fact that she was there, pretty much reiterating everything Jordan was saying.

"Sorry, Babe," he said, rising to his feet to stand in front of her. He planted a kiss on her cheek. "Now, what were you saying?"

She smiled, apparently satisfied he was now paying attention to her. "I was asking you what you were doing talking to that girl? Penelope, I think is what her name is."

He slung an arm over her shoulder and they started walking towards the doors. "Oh, her?" he said nonchalantly. "She's just helping me with some homework." He decided not to elaborate on the fact that he needed a tutor. What would Jordan think of _that_ little fact?

Jordan narrowed her eyes, but didn't add anything. They continued on down the hallway, getting ready to go to their first class.

XXXXX

Penelope was sitting in the school cafeteria, waiting for her friends to join her for lunch. Currently she was looking over the sheet of questions Derek Morgan had given her. She was completely baffled. How on earth did he miss all of this? At least half of them they had gone over, and she was one hundred percent positive that he had taken notes on all of this.

"What're you looking at?" Reid asked, sitting down next to her and leaning over to look at the paper she had in her hands.

She looked up at him and took a sip of her Diet Coke. Shaking her head, she huffed. "This is a sheet of questions Derek Morgan had for his homework. I suggested he write down his questions and then we could look over them when we got together on Wednesday. But based on _this_…" She gestured to the paper. "…we've got a lot to do."

Reid cocked a brow and took a bite of his apple. "Yeah, well he's not that great of a student in English," he said, stating the obvious.

"But he wrote all of this stuff down!" she cried. "It's all in his notebook. I _saw _ him write it down."

Taking the picture from her hands, Reid studied it and a broad grin spread across his face. "Oh!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she demanded. "What is it?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Emily asked as she and Anderson sat down at the table to join them. "Garcia sounds panicked, and you are acting like you've got news that you're peeing your pants with excitement to share." She glanced at Anderson and he high-fived her.

He nodded. "Nice."

Penelope glared at her friends and then turned her attention back to Reid. "Spit it out, Reid!" she snapped. "Tell me what the problem is."

"Oh, it's not a problem," he said. "It's just, by observing his hand writing, I can tell something very important." He pointed to the chicken scrawl on the paper. "Notice how hurriedly he wrote. It's like he wrote this as quickly as he possibly could."

"Get to the point, Reid," she growled.

He smiled. "My point I'm trying to make is," he began, "that Derek Morgan has a crush on you."


	5. A Promise

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Sorry about the delay! School is waaaaay crazy…Thank you to all who reviewed the previous chapters and thank you in advance to those of you who review this one :)**

**On another note, the Profiler's Choice Awards are going on currently and I'm up for a few: Best New Author, Best Characterization of Penelope Garcia ("Losing Everything"), and Best Morgan/Garcia ("Beauty and the Morgan"). If you haven't seen them, I'd be honored if you checked them out! There are many other great stories there as well, so if you're looking for some fantastic fics to read, I highly recommend heading over to the CCOAC.**

Penelope blinked several times at Reid before bursting into giggles. She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and looked to see if her other friends had joined her in laughing; none of them had. "Why are none of you laughing with me?" she asked. "Clearly our Boy Genius has lost his marbles." She jerked her thumb in the direction of Reid and let out another giggle.

Emily snatched the piece of paper from Reid's hands and looked up at him. "Spencer, where exactly are you getting that from?" she laughed. "I gotta agree with Garcie…it _is _laughable. Derek fuckin' Morgan is nowhere _near _good enough for Penelope! He's into skinny bitches like Jordan or Tamara." She handed the piece of paper over to Anderson. "What do you think, Andy man? Think Derek the Douche has a thing for our Pretty Penelope?"

"Aw, you think I'm pretty, Prentiss?" Penelope gushed. "That's so sweet!" She snickered. "So, what do you think, Anderson? Think I've got me a lover?"

Anderson shook his head. "No idea how Spencer got this from Morgan's handwriting," he said. "It looks like normal, shitty handwriting."

Reid shook his head. "I'm telling you, that handwriting says it all," he said, taking a sip of his drink. "Trust me…the guy has a thing for you."

"Who has a thing for who?" Alex asked as she joined them. She looked from the giggling Anderson and Emily, to the smug Reid, to the uncomfortable Penelope. "What'd I miss?

"You missed where we discovered Penelope is the object of Derek Morgan's affections," Reid said.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him, Alex," she groaned. "He's an idiot."

"Actually, with an IQ of one eighty seven, I qualify as a genius," he pointed out.

A grin covered Alex's face and she laughed. "Oh, yes," she said. "I'd almost forgotten about the fact you're tutoring Derek Morgan! What makes Reid think he _like likes_ you?" Reid simply handed the question sheet over to her and she laughed. "Ah, I see! He made up questions to give to you so he would have an excuse to talk to you!" She set the paper back down and shook her head. "It would appear as though you, Garcia, have an admirer."

Emily and Anderson exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. "I still don't see it," Emily said.

Penelope's cheeks were now a bright, blaring scarlet. She couldn't believe her best friends of all people were talking about this with her right there. There was nothing more embarrassing. To make matters worse, Derek and his entourage had just entered the cafeteria. His group consisted of himself and Jordan, Tamara Barnes; his right hand man, Aaron Hotchner and his girlfriend, Haley Brooks; soccer captain Jennifer Jareau and her boyfriend from Louisiana, Will LaMontagne; Matteo Cruz, another football player. The group of them were the elite of their high school. They had entered the cafeteria and were sitting in their usual corner table and Penelope rolled her eyes.

"Maybe he'll —"

She cut them off with a vicious glare. "Knock it off," she snapped. "Derek Morgan does not have a thing for me, in any way, shape or form. So we're gonna drop it."

Emily grinned. "Oh! He's looking our way! PG, he's looking at you!"

Penelope glared at her, but her eyes shot over towards Derek and his table. His eyes were looking in their direction, but she didn't get the impression he was actually looking at them.

But then she felt the strangest sensation rolling through her. It was as if a warm wave of pleasure was covering her, and at that moment she knew his eyes were on her. She could sense it. His gaze raised goosebumps over her skin and she bit her lip. His onyx eyes gazed at her even though he was sitting a long way off in the cafeteria. She didn't know how or why, but she knew he was looking at her.

_What the hell?_ she thought to herself. _Why is he looking at me?_

"Yep, we were right," Emily said with a smug glance towards Penelope.

Penelope looked away from Derek and stuck her tongue out at Emily. "Shut the hell up, Em," she grumbled.

"Penny!"

She rolled her eyes. Just when she thought her day couldn't get worse…

The rest of her friends started coughing uncontrollably with laughter as Kevin Lynch came hurrying up to the table. She looked up to see her ex-boyfriend coming towards her and her friends. A tight smile covered her face and she said, "Hi Kevin. What's up?"

He pulled up a chair and pushed it in between Spencer and Penelope, nearly pushing Reid out of his chair.

"Hi guys!" Kevin chirped. "What's going on?"

"Not much," Penelope said, picking at her food with her fork. The whole table had fallen silent. The breakup between Penelope and Kevin had been less than amiable in the first stages of the game. After she had essentially told him there was no passion in their relationship, Lynch had gone through a period of moping and was now constantly begging to be taken back. There had even been a moment when he stood outside her window and tried serenading her while she worked on her homework.

She had never heard worse singing in her life. Eventually she threatened to call the cops and he ran off, tail between his legs.

Kevin cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had covered the table as soon as he'd sat down. "Well," he said. "The reason I'm here is because I wanted to see if you wanted to come over to my place tomorrow night and get some work done on that science project?"

"You mean the one that we haven't even picked partners for yet?" Reid asked, who shared the same chemistry class as Lynch and Penelope.

He nodded. "Yep!" he said excitedly. "That's the one. I had some great ideas for it."

Penelope sighed wistfully and slung her arm around Reid's shoulder. "Oh, sorry Kevin!" she said. "I'm actually working with Spence already!"

Kevin's brow furrowed. "Wait, but didn't he just say that we haven't picked partners yet? Why would he say that if he had already picked someone to work with?"

Internally, Penelope groaned. A barely muffled snicker could be heard from Emily and Anderson's general direction and she shot them a glare. Returning her gaze to the wounded puppy dog Kevin, she chirped, "Well, this silly boy here must have forgotten that we've made a commitment to work together!"

It was Reid's turn to frown. "Penelope, I have an eidetic mem — OW!" He looked down underneath the table to where Penelope had just kicked him in the shin roughly.

Alex shot him a look that read, _Good show of subtlety there, Reid._

Looking defeated, Kevin rose from his seat and said, "Well, I guess I'll see you around then, Penny." And then he walked off, his shoulders slumped and a miserable look written all over his face. Once he was completely gone, the whole table erupted in laughter and Reid began examining his aching shin.

"That hurt, Garcia!" he yelped. "Why couldn't you have done something a little less, I don't know…_harmful_ to me?"

"It was what you deserved," she snapped. "You almost gave me away! I cannot work with Kevin. He's way too clingy and our dating life was _boring_!"

Emily snickered. "It's so funny that he's still pining for you," she laughed. "It does provide some entertainment for us."

Putting her head on the table, Penelope groaned. "I just want someone who I can be passionate about. I mean, yeah, Kevin has a lot in common with me interest-wise, but personality? He never understood my jokes, he didn't understand _me_. And I know that sounds totally cliche, but I mean, c'mon. He didn't really even try!"

"You'll find someone to make you feel passionate about a relationship," Reid said comfortingly. "It'll be okay."

"And who knows," Emily added, her face completely serious at first. A second later a wide grin spread out across her face and she snickered. "Maybe Derek Morgan will end up being that guy."

Penelope shot her yet another glare and grumbled, "I hate you sometimes, Emily Prentiss."

XXXXX

"So JJ, what are you wearing to Homecoming?" Tamara asked, leaning on her elbows at the table. She folded her elegant hands in front of her and her eyes had a ravenous look in them. Derek had to suppress an eye roll. Tamara was so obsessed with clothing and a person's appearance. JJ, on the other hand, was not like that. She was kind and wonderful. And it was fairly clear that her relationship with her boyfriend, Will would one day lead to marriage. The two of them were completely in love with one another. He knew he would never find a girl that he would have that with, but in some ways he envied the two of them.

JJ smiled in an uncomfortable fashion and said, "Er, well, just a blue halter gown. Nothing super interesting."

"Yeah, but I bet you'll steal the show in it," Will said, planting a kiss on his girlfriend's cheek.

She turned to him and her smile grew much wider and more comfortable. "Oh, thanks honey," she murmured, touching her cheek.

Jordan spoke up. "Well, I think Derek and I will win Homecoming Queen and King, no matter how pretty you look in your dress, JJ. The two of us are just _born_ for it."

JJ's face fell and Derek looked over at her sympathetically. Glancing at his own girlfriend, he said, "Babe, I don't think we'll win. The _whole _student body votes."

She glared at him. "What the fuck does that mean?" she demanded.

_Damn it_. He should have never opened his mouth. His eyes met Hotch's amused ones and he sighed. "Well, Babe," he explained. "Not everyone likes us. I mean, there are some people, like Penelope over there who _everyone_ likes."

Jordan's gaze could have frozen blood and the table got awkwardly silent. When she spoke again, her voice was menacing. "You honestly think _she _would win Homecoming Queen?" she hissed. "You think _that _is hotter than me?"

He rolled his eyes. "That's not what I said," he growled. "It's just, well, you're kind of a bitch to people. Penelope…well, isn't."

"You didn't even know who the bitch was two days ago! How do you have any idea everyone likes her?"

Derek gulped. He'd actually done a little digging and talked to several people. All of them thought she was amazing and kind. JJ even knew a little bit about her. In fact, she had been his main source for information.

"_Oh, Penelope?" JJ said, a bright smile covering her face and her eyes lighting up. "Oh, she's a complete sweetheart! She was in my math class since we're both juniors…she's supposed to be really smart. Everyone who knows her loves her. And did you _see _her in the _Beauty and the Beast _when the school performed it? She was amazing as Belle! Her voice is so pretty."_

Considering Derek had never been to a play in his life and he spent so much time playing sports, he had no idea. Hell, he didn't even know _Beauty and the Beast _had been the production last year.

"I asked around," he said, averting his eyes. JJ wisely remained silent, not giving away that he had come to her for information.

Jordan folded her arms across her chest and pouted. "God, Derek, you can be such a asshole!" Fake tears filled her eyes and she rose to her feet angrily. "Ugh, now I'm going to ruin my makeup! I'm going to the bathroom!" Then she started to stomp out of the cafeteria.

"Jordan, wait!" Tamara said, getting up to chase after her.

Derek just face palmed himself and looked at his friends still sitting at the table. "Oh, don't give me those looks," he muttered. "I'll fix it tonight. There's plenty I can do to cheer her up."

XXXXX

Derek was packing his bag up to start heading home after school when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and grinned at who it was. It was Penelope.

"Hey!" he said, cursing himself; he sounded way too enthusiastic with that greeting.

She smiled slightly and handed him his question sheet. "I took a look at your questions," she said. "I can help you answer them tomorrow when we meet to tutor."

He nodded. "Okay! Sounds good." Holding up his finger, he unzipped his bag momentarily and pulled out a book. He watched her eyes grow wide and grinned. "Surprised?"

"You checked out a copy of _Jane Eyre _from the library?" she asked in shock.

"Yep," he said proudly. "I'm gonna read it. I tried to check out the Wikipedia page, but it appears as though someone changed the summary before I could get to it. According to the page, Jane Eyre moves to Narnia and starts a cult of witches that dance around fires naked."

She grinned. "Well, I thought ahead a little bit," she said. "But are you actually going to read it?"

"I promise," he said, putting his hand over his heart and sticking the book back in his bag. "I will read this book and let you know what I think about it."

She cocked an eyebrow and laughed. "Okay," she said. "I'm holding you to it, though."

He merely grinned wider. Somehow, knowing he would have to keep a promise to her made him feel spectacular.

**I don't know how many of you have ever heard Kirsten Vangsness sing, but she's quite incredible. Look up "Rainbow Dream" by her on youtube…she's great. That's why I added that little thing in here. Seriously, the woman can do anything.**


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